Obviously I love F1, but I’ve always wanted to be able to follow indycars as well, although never known how. But now that Rubens is going, I really want to see it. I can just about stump up the money grudgingly for the F1 HD channel, but wholehartedly refuse to get all the sports channels aswell just for indycars as I have no interest in football whatsoever!

So I think the Indycars should be shown on the F1 channel.

Over on the sky forum someone wrote an absolutely great thread about all the pros of doing this, and maybe (but probably very unlikely :( ) if enough people comment and throw their weight behind it, they might actually take notice.

I hope I’m not breaking any forum rules by posting up the link to it, but I think its something that would be very useful to everyone here!

This is what he wrote. It’s well said! If you agree let youre feelings be known to the sky people!

Firstly I wanted to heap praise upon the decision to show the first Indycar race of the new season on the Sky F1 channel. With Formula 1, the ancillary programming around F1, GP2, and GP3, the Sky F1 channel really feels like it can be a destination channel.

Now I want to implore the powers that be at Sky Sports programme scheduling to continue this for the rest of the Indycar season. Wherever there are schedule clashes for screen time, Indycar could be on tape delay.

I have previously subscribed to Sky Sports in order to watch Indycar racing, but, having decided to update to HD (I wasn’t going to but then seeing GP2, and GP3 plus ancillary F1 programming would be on the Sky F1 channel it felt like better value for money), so that I can watch live Formula 1 through the season, I feel I can no longer afford the luxury of having the Sky Sports package too.

Like many people I have had to cut back on things as my budget has been squeezed, and I find that £20.00 a month to have Sky Sports so I can watch Indycar is not good value for money. I have to have the £20.00 package because Indycar is shown on Sky Sports 3 and 4 and Sky does not allow you to subscribe just to them (in any way, reduced fee or not). And I really do not get any value from Sky sports outside of Indycar. I never watch Football,Rugby, Cricket, Tennis, or anything else on offer on Sky Sports outside of Indycar racing.

Now, I’m really encouraged by what I have seen and read about the Sky f1 channel so far, and I think Sky has the opportunity to create a “destination” channel for Motorsport fans with Sky F1. I appreciate that F1 has to be the channel’s focus, but just as with GP2 and GP3, this channel is a natural home for Indycar racing, that sky has valiantly covered for many years.

F1 has a high proportion of fans that can rightly be identified as motorsport enthusiasts – people who don’t just casually engage with the sport, but who buy merchandise, read the motorsport press and engage in motorsport fan communities. This kind of fan (and I think the kind of fan who would make the choice of upgrading their sky package to continue viewing races live) is the kind of fan that is knowledgeable enough on motorsport to engage with other forms. I believe that viewing figures for Indycar on the Sky F1 channel would be higher than in their current position on Sky Sports 3 and 4. 2012 is also a year when F1 fans are even more likely to want to watch Indycar racing, with Rubens Barrichello (a massive fan favourite) now driving for KV Racing for the whole Indycar season. Incidentally, having recently been in touch with Indycar’s CEO and Marketing department, discussion are taking place with Top gear to run a feature on the series, which like Top Gear’s NASCAR feature will have the potential to attract more UK eye balls to the series, and therefore potentially more Subscribers to Sky.

By showing Indycar on the F1 channel Sky could have a win-win-win-win situation:

1 – Better viewing figures for Indycar, allowing greater advertising revenue to be generated;
2 – A host of motorsport fans that truly feel the Sky F1 channel (and a Sky HD subscription) is offering value for money (rather than just a cynical extension of Bernie Ecclestone’s desire to draw in as much money as possible to a sport of extreme wealth);
3 – Potentially even more subscribers as the word of the quality motorsport content on offer grow;
4 – Fan and consumer good will. Motorsports fans are quite often not the type to include the vast majority of the sports fare on Sky Sports in their viewing habits. Motorsports fans are for the most part just that, Motorsports fans, and Sky Sports F1 could be their home channel.

The question that should be asked is why leave a quality product that will be of great interest to F1 fans languishing on Sky Sports 3 and 4?

If the answer to that is simply to hope that showing the first Indycar race on Sky F1 will get people to buy a full sports package and spend the extra money, then Sky could rightly be accused of attempting to exploit its subscribers rather than providing them the best value for money.

I hope Sky sees this as an opportunity to strengthen its motorsports brand under one channel (a channel which will have plenty of hours to fill), and as an opportunity to go the extra mile for motorsport fans and its subscribers.